E.J. Montini began writing news columns for The Arizona Republic shortly before the first governor in state history was impeached, continued doing so as another governor was indicted and resigned, and has carried on over 25 years through out-of-control urban sprawl, unchecked illegal immigration, increasing daily temperatures, decreasing rainfall and recession. Coincidence?

92% of us in favor; our lawmakers against

There are a handful of politicians in the entire country who don’t want to do anything to prevent gun violence and they all might be in the Arizona legislature.

Except, maybe, for one.

And she’s the governor.

Arizona lawmakers not only are unwilling to face the problem of gun violence but some of them would like stop the federal government from acting as well. Like Republican Rep. Steve Smith who proposed to make it illegal for a public servant to enforce “any act, law, statute, rule or regulation” of the federal government relating to firearms.

Meantime, according to a CBS News/New York Times polls, a common-sense measure like universal background checks on gun buyers is favored by 92 percent of Americans. And that number includes 89 percent of Republicans and 85 percent of households with NRA members.

There’s no need to wait for the federal government to act.

Democratic Rep. Chad Campbell has introduced a proposal (House Bill 2381) that would require person-to-person gun sales to go through a licensed firearms dealer in order to have a background check conducted on both parties.

“I don’t want to take the guns away from anyone who has a gun,” Campbell told me. “I’m not even talking about banning any types of weapons. All I’m saying is that we should not allow the wrong people get firearms. People with criminal backgrounds or people who have serious mental health issues at they time they try to get a weapon. To me that’s a very easy and identifiable group of people that we all would say should not have weapons. Would it prevent everyone in those categories from getting a weapon? Of course not. But if we stop even one person from getting a weapon and killing someone, that’s worth it.”

Still, Campbell told me this week that he doesn’t expect the bill to come to a vote.

Likewise, he doesn’t hold out much hope for a proposal me made concerning mental health and firearms. House Bill 2377 would prohibit anyone who has been voluntarily hospitalized for mental-health evaluation or treatment from possessing a firearm.

“After Sandy Hook a lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and members of their party, even the governor, said that the issue isn’t the gun laws it’s mental health,” Campbell told me. “They said we need to look at mental health. Well, that is part of what we are trying to do with our bills. I haven’t seen anyone else around here trying to get that done. I haven’t seen anything that addresses mental health other than what we’ve proposed.”

Last month Gov. Jan Brewer was asked about gun control. She told The Arizona Republic’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, “I’ve been listening and receiving a lot of different papers and information in regards to what people believe the solutions are. So, it will be something I’m sure will be addressed in the Legislature, and my ears are all open, and I’m certainly anxious, if there’s a solution, that we get it done.”

Her spokesman Matthew Benson was quick to add, however, “The governor wants to be cautious about this and doesn’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction. She’s a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and she has skepticism about actions that would limit the rights of gun owners in this country.”

Campbell doesn’t see that happening with his bills.

“It’s not an infringement on anyone. I’m tired of hearing that argument. It’s paranoia,” he said. “We regulate all kinds of things in this country. We regulate free speech. We do so in some cases for public safety. What we’re proposing is a common sense idea. I’ve always had guns. I wouldn’t want anyone to take away my weapons. We’re not proposing that.”

We should know where each of our legislators stand on the universal background check and Campbell’s mental health proposal. Just about the only people who could make such a vote happen are Senate President Andy Biggs (602-926-4371 or abiggs@azleg.gov), House Speaker Andy Tobin (602-926-5172 or atobin@azleg.gov) or Gov. Brewer (azgovernor.gov or 602-542-4331).

Campbell said that even if nothing gets done in Arizona he’s hopeful the U.S. Congress will pass something. I believe they will.

After which I’d expect Arizona lawmakers to immediately take action … to secede.

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